The present invention relates generally to currency detectors for detecting counterfeit banknotes and paper currency and is directed, more particularly, to a desktop, UV based counterfeit currency detector that detects counterfeits by selectively exposing the banknotes to ultraviolet and white light for detecting various anti-counterfeit features in the banknotes and/or paper currency, using solely battery powered LED's as light sources.
Ultraviolet (UV) counterfeit currency detection devices are known in the prior art. The production by criminals of counterfeit currency, banknotes, bonds, stocks and the like are continually increasing throughout the world as a result of continuing improvements in printing technology, particularly in color printing equipments and the increased ability to obtain the special currency paper used for banknotes, etc. Counterfeit currency/banknotes are now being made which cannot be detected by the unaided eye, and which are virtually indistinguishable from genuine banknotes and currency. Single test counterfeit detection devices currently exist, but are generally not fully reliable.
There remains a need for a desk top/tabletop ultraviolet (UV) counterfeit detector that uses ambient backlight (diffused white light) from an LED to distinguish counterfeit watermarks from genuine watermarks on genuine currency, and which also utilizes ultraviolet (UV) light/radiation from an LED that are more readily detectable by UV light to distinguish certain features on counterfeit currency paper from genuine currency paper. The UV detector should also include a translucent surface for diffusing visible white light and an arrangement for projecting UV light in a manner which assures that it will not strike or be directed toward the eyes of the user, while maintaining the overall detector construction small, portable, battery-operated, and lightweight.
The present invention improves upon the construction of the instant inventors' prior UV counterfeit currency detector, which is described in their recently issued U.S. Pat. No. 7,715,613, the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by reference.
As described in that patent, the prior art is acquainted with various counterfeit currency detectors having various designs, configurations, structures and materials of construction, including as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 598,960; 6,603,871; 6,858,856; and in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0010071, the contents of which patents and patent publications are incorporated by reference herein.
The instant inventors' prior currency detector described in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 7,715,613 uses a hidden viewing mirror for detection of counterfeit currency and requires the user to carefully focus on a faint image reflected in a minor to discern and differentiate ultraviolet strips or watermarks in the paper currency.